Are you still pushing buttons and adjusting knobs with your fingers to brew your favorite coffee? If so, then this voice-controlled solution could be the next project on your list.

To accomplish this hack, a rather high-end coffee maker was disassembled and modified, adding an Arduino Nano to press buttons, along with a small motor and driver board to adjust its dial. Voice control is provided via Snips software running on a Raspberry Pi, which passes the pertinent commands along for coffee making.

When the devices around you no longer require a lengthy operation manual, but rather, require only a voice command, this unlocks an environment where technology disappears into the background, so that you can regain the freedom to spend quality time with the people you care about. That is in fact our mission at Snips, to make technology disappear.

Case-in-point: this voice-activated coffee machine. You can ask it to make you a double espresso or a flat white, to pour you some hot water or even to turn itself off.

It’s purely a demo project, but at our Snips office in Paris, we’ve grown used to the convenience, and so we wanted to make it as easy as possible for anyone interested to replicate it at home.

Code and modification instructions are available on the Snips team’s blog post, while the brewing results can be seen in the demo video below. 

Coffee, making and hacking addictions are just bound to get out of control. So did [Rhys Goodwin’s] coffee maker hack. What started as a little restoration project of a second-hand coffee machine resulted in a complete upgrade to state of the art coffee brewing technology.

The Brasilia Lady comes with a 300 ml brass boiler, a pump and four buttons for power, coffee, hot water and steam. A 3-way AC solenoid valve, wired directly to the buttons, selects one of the three functions, while a temperamental bimetal switch keeps the boiler roughly between almost there and way too hot.

To reduce the temperature swing, [Rhys] decided to add a PID control loop, and on the way, an OLED display, too. He designed a little shield for the Arduino Nano, that interfaces with the present hardware through solid state relays. Two thermocouples measure the temperature of the boiler and group head while a thermal cut-off fuse protects the machine from overheating in case of a malfunction.

Also, the Lady’s makeup received a complete overhaul, starting with a fresh powder coating. A sealed enclosure along with a polished top panel for the OLED display were machined from aluminum. [Rhys] also added an external water tank that is connected to the machine through shiny, custom lathed tube fittings. Before the water enters the boiler, it passes through a custom preheater, to avoid cold water from entering the boiler directly. Not only does the result look fantastic, it also offers a lot more control over the temperature and the amount of water extracted, resulting in a perfect brew every time. Enjoy [Rhys’s] video where he explains his build:

Thanks to [Pirate14] for the tip!

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TextSpresso machine brews caffeinated goodness via text messaging (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.